Existing telecommunications terminal devices, such as wired telephones or mobile communications devices, use conventional methods to indicate that a call is being connected or that a call is incoming. For example, when a calling party (i.e., call originator) places a call to a called party (i.e., call receiver), a ringing circuit in the central office (CO) switch may generate a ringing tone directed towards the calling party's receiver. The CO switch also generates a corresponding ring directed towards the called party device. Once the called party “picks up” or “goes off hook,” the ringing circuit is removed and the call is connected.
Many times, a calling party may dial a wrong number either because the wrong number was provided to the calling party or because the calling party inadvertently dialed or entered the wrong number. Typically, the calling party will not realize that a wrong number has been dialed until after the call has been connected and the called party answers the call. This can be an inconvenience to both the called party and calling party. Moreover, unless the called party has caller identification (i.e., Caller ID) activated on her communications device, the called party may not know the identity of the calling party until the called party “picks up.”
A method and system are desirable that overcome the problems encountered with known techniques for indicating, for example, the identity of the called party and/or calling party during call processing.